http://www.collinwood.net/info/

"My name is Victoria Winters... my journey is just beginning..."

On 27 June 1966, those words began the journey of a young governess to the remote coastal town of Collinsport, Maine, which for the next five years would be the home of the assorted supernatural forces inhabiting the world of ABC-TV's Dark Shadows, the first gothic soap opera.

From the murky images of virginal governess Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke) on a twilight-bound train, to the hulking inky outline of the ominous Collinwood mansion, the opening moments of the first episode made it clear that Dark Shadows did not intend to play by any of the traditional soap opera rules. A heady distillation of gothic romance plots and intrigue, producer Dan Curtis' brainchild was not an overnight success. Initially faced with poor viewing figures and the mysteries surrounding the parentage of the young governess, in desperation a ghost story was added to the mix. When viewers responded positively, the producers decided that the supernatural plots were where the show's future lay, opening the floodgates for a vivid cast of spectral characters to menace the tortured Collins family and their ghost-ridden mansion, Collinwood, a dark wonderland housed in a tiny Manhattan studio.

Nine months into the show's run, grave-robbing drifter Willie Loomis (John Karlen) released vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) from imprisonment in the Collins family mausoleum, and pop-culture history was born. Dark Shadows pioneered the silhouette of the angst-ridden vampire searching redemption some three decades before Angel lusted after Buffy. In spite of Dan Curtis' mandate to introduce a bloodsucking fiend as his vampire protagonist, the writers and production staff took a more considered approach, using the vampire myth as a metaphor for loneliness and isolation.



All photos copyright Dan Curtis production

What was your first reaction to this show? Did you see it in the beginning? On the SciFi channel in re-runs or on DVD? Tell us a bit about your thoughts on Dark Shadows in general and what you thought when you first saw it.

I saw it as a child. Growing up seeing the 70s Hammer films on the weekend matinees, I was exposed to quite a bit of Vampire imagery early on. I was too young to understand the subtlety of the show, but I thought it was great to see a vampire on TV every day.

Now, revisiting the show on DVD, I realize how unique it was for TV at that time.

My first viewing was quite recently. The date above suprised me, as I wasn't quite conceived yet! (Makes me feel young)

The show looks good, but is much slower than I'd expected.
However, the actor's ability with using the slow timing to build suspense is great.

I can't wait to see Sweeny Todd sprout fangs ! Wonderful things are going to happen there. :)

The castle photo above also reminds me of Johnny's place in Los Angeles. Castle on a hill.

Saw it when I was young and my older brother/sister wouldn't miss it, so of course, I wantet to watch with them, too. I'll be honest, it scared me when I was that age, but I was hooked. I'm renting the series again through Netflix and I laugh at parts that I'm sure terrified me when I was younger. It was such a different storyline than other shows on TV at the time.

-Donna

Today turned out not to be the best day to start a Dark Shadows discussion LOL all eyes are on Sweeney Todd.

I hate admitting this, but it's true, I saw it in it's first run. We all would run home from school to watch this. All of our moms were afraid that this wasn't "suitable" for our little naive, precious selves. LOL It was so different and so amazing!! This wasn't our mom's kind of soap!!

Thanks y'all for chiming in today! I know we've all been busy elsewhere here on the board. ;)

Don't feel bad Karen. Everyone will catch up here. I saw it in a weird manner when it first came out. I was teaching in the Finger Lakes area of NY. I would come home during Christmas, Easter, and summer breaks. My younger brother was a die-hard fan (he is almost 10 years younger than me). So I saw it in snap shots. For instance, I would be home and everybody would be dying off for various reasons. I would come back home and they would all be back. My brother would disgustedly explain (as only a baby brother could). That these weren' the same people. They were in the past.....They were in a parallel universe, They were in the future; That was the same actor, but he was playing a different character. :rolleyes: Never did figure the series out until years later when they reran it on the Sci Fi channel.....and I'm not sure I figured it out even then. :blink:

Thanks Shadowdog, it was crazy busy here yesterday. ;)

It got pretty confusing there for a while on DS, you had to sit there and watch it. There was no way to record it, but I tried. Sometimes I'd be late coming home from school and I put our reel to reel tape recorder on top of the TV (much to my parent's chagrin) and asked my mom to turn it on when it started and off when it was over. LOL And she did. woohoo

I think this very thing is why the show became so popular. It just rings so true with the human condition.

I saw it from just shortly after Barnabas' appearance. I was bored and lonely after school, turning the TV dial (yup, all 12 channels) and stumbled upon the image of Barnabas Collins. The Gothic settings and allure of the Vampire had me from first sight. I swear I remember the first image I saw was Barnabas exposing his fangs. How far into the story that was at that point I have no clue. but it was great watching those first few episodes of it's inception. I missed all of those, and I don't think we had the Sci-Fi chaneel yet her when it was airing there or I think I would have tuned in just for nostalgia's sake. This discussion is goin to be fun for me! It was just riveting. I don't remember discussing it much with my schoolmates. I was in Catholic School at the time, and the nuns would have had to perform an exhorcism on me for watching. :P

I do recall being enthralled with the idea of Tarot Cards, which I had never heard of or seen before, and so a few years later I purchased a set for myself. It was fun to play around with them but I never really took it seriously. A "phase" if you will.

This is another major ingredient in it's popularity, IMHO. Something fresh and musty! :lol:

I too watched it in it's first run. I would get home from school as fast as I could because I couldn't bear to miss it. My favorite character was Angelique. When I was a bad girl my mom, instead of blistering my butt (although she would if needed!!) she would take Dark Shadows away from me LOL.

I do hope this pans out with Johnny playing Barnabus. I've always liked the idea of a vampire Johnny.

I was in high school when the series debuted and did not care for it-but I saw it as reruns in college between classes and anyone in the dorm who was not in class was "required" to watch it and had to describe what happened-we were to poor for a recorder and gas was rationed so one watched old reruns between classes-when not studying of course. :)